148 of 254  Bailey County Courthouse, Muleshoe, Texas.   County Population:  7,165

Bailey County, Texas

"The county was marked off from Bexar County in 1876 and named for Peter J. Bailey, an Alamo hero. Bailey and twenty-one other counties newly formed at the time were attached to Jack County for judicial purposes. In 1881 jurisdiction of Bailey County was transferred from Jack to Baylor County; then, in 1887, to Hale County; and in 1892 to Castro County. Settlement of Bailey County did not come early, since the XIT Ranch held most of its land from 1882 until the division and sale of the ranch in 1901.
"As late as 1900 the United States census counted only four people living in Bailey County. 
"The county developed rather quickly during the early twentieth century, however, as old ranchland was divided up and sold to farmers by land developers.
"A county seat election [occured] in 1919, with Muleshoe carrying seventy-four of the 111 votes cast.
William R. Hunt and John Leffler, "BAILEY COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online
"[Muleshoe] was founded when the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway laid tracks across the county in 1913 and was named for the nearby Muleshoe Ranch."
William R. Hunt, "MULESHOE, TX," Handbook of Texas Online

I visited Bailey County and photographed the courthouse in Muleshoe on Friday, May 18, 2012. 

The Texas panhandle is 90% sky

Bailey County Courthouse 1925

M.C. Butler, Architect. Image courtesy courthousehistory.com

This was Butler's only courthouse. Image courtesy courthousehistory.com

The courthouse square occupies a full city block. In Muleshoe, the street grid is canted 45 degrees from north to align with the railroad tracks, unlike Littlefield

The simple but elegant courthouse is in the center of the square. The front faces southeast, onto S. 1st Street

The front door

The classical trim and detailing are fitting for a building of this scale

Looking southeast from the courthouse steps

Mature trees shade the courthouse lawn. This is the northeast side of the building

The northeast side of the building is cluttered with a small storage shed and mechanical equipment

A Texas Department of Public Safety building occupies the northwest corner of the square

The Bailey County Attorney's office on W. 2nd Street, northwest of the courthouse square

The Muleshoe Heritage Center is located on the northwest side of town, off of Highway 84

The former Santa Fe Railway Station is now the visitor's center

A "dugout" house "in" the prairie

The Center's storage building serves as a backdrop for the Branding Wall, a collection of local ranch "brands"

Your host and a statue of a mule